


Choose Your Own Death

by Green3lf



Series: Moments Uncatalogued [2]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: Case Fic, F/M, MSR
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 07:14:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28684671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Green3lf/pseuds/Green3lf
Summary: Mulder and Scully work with local law enforcement to track down a killer who seemingly selects his victims at random. The suspect takes an interest in Mulder and Scully and soon they are involved in his twisted games.
Relationships: Fox Mulder & Dana Scully, Fox Mulder/Dana Scully
Series: Moments Uncatalogued [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2089464
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	1. Prologue

The crisp white page was lying on one plump pillow, the placement methodical, precise. The bed had been turned down expertly, revealing crisp white sheets neatly tucked under a pale yellow quilt that smelled of freshly laundered cotton and sunshine. The room itself was inviting; plush cream carpet and silky draperies, gleaming oak furniture, a bunch of cheerful daisies in a cut crystal vase. It was just the sort of room one might expect to find in an understated but elegant Bed & Breakfast in a pretty coastal town.

Carmen Miller moved into the room tentatively, scanning corner to corner and trying to take in every feature of the room. She thought she was alone but the sense of dread that had propelled her forward since she’d read that third page so casually this morning warned her that she was still not safe. How many more of these wretched things would she be forced to read? Would she make the right choice again, or was this the room in which she would die? The anger and fear she had been valiantly trying to suppress all day suddenly threatened to overwhelm her, but the thought of surrendering to someone who had so little regard for whether she lived or died was too galling. She would play on. Carmen walked resolutely over to the bed and reached for the page lying on the pillow. Like all the others, it was single-sided, novel-sized but not torn from a book. The text was typed. And like all the others, there was a block of paragraphs at the top of the page, and then two statements at the bottom. Two choices. She was still here, so it seemed she had made the correct selections so far. She could only hope her judgement would hold out.

What Carmen could not know was that 3 choices ago, she had picked the wrong option; the one that would lead her to this point, where there was no ‘right’ choice. Not for her anyway.

She read, ‘You enter the bedroom and find it to be empty. Your heart rate begins to even out-perhaps you can win this game after all? Through the window you see the beach in the distance, you can even hear the waves. On the window sill, you notice a key. It looks to be the right size for the door to your left.

> Do you A) Pick up the key and unlock the door, proceeding down the stairs; or
> 
> B) Open the window and climb down the trellis that leads to the garden?’

“Can I choose C and turn around and get the hell out of here?” Carmen muttered under her breath. She looked back to the open door to find that the man with the mask and the gun was back. He was standing, watching, the gun resolutely pointed at her head. He did not speak, had not spoken to her once. Somehow this made it worse. He had appeared at the third stop on this tour of terror, stepping out of the shadows when Carmen had torn the page in her hand and had turned, ready to give up on whatever stupid game she had found herself in. He had raised his gun and pointed it at her until she re-read the note and made the choice to turn left into the alleyway that led down past the backs of a row of shops, all locked up and deserted on this crisp autumn day. She had not seen him again until now.

Carmen picked up the key but hesitated. She looked out the window again, this time focusing on the wooden framework that allowed a wild-looking bittersweet vine to clamber up the side of the building. The lattice looked old, and worn-she’d probably be safer climbing the vine. She could see parts of the trellis that had rotted away. The ground underneath the window was paved with rough granite slabs that looked a long way down. The garden itself was surrounded by a high wall, no doubt secured with a gate that would be part of the next set of choices. She would take her chance on the stairs.

Carmen grasped the key and made her way to the door. She slid the key into the keyhole and unlocked the door tentatively. It opened with a quiet click of metal on metal. The light from the room flooded in to reveal a steep wooden staircase. There was a landing below, where the stairs turned and the light was dimmer. Carmen stepped cautiously onto the first stair then moved more confidently down to the landing, From there she could see a second flight of stairs and another landing where the steps again changed direction. She moved more slowly as she descended into the gloom. From this landing, she could see the solid wooden door at the bottom of the third flight of stairs. There was no window, and the light from the room above had diminished as the stairs had twisted away from the open door at the top. Carmen could just make out a key in the lock. Could this be the end of whatever horror she had walked into this morning? Was she about to win this hell game? The only prize she wanted was to go home.

Carmen heard footsteps beginning to echo down the stairs behind her. Startled, she turned and began to rush down the last flight of steps. She did not see the fine wire that stretched just above the second tread. The footsteps behind her could not keep pace with Carmen as she was suddenly propelled down the steep, hard, wooden steps. Her follower did not round the final turn in time to see Carmen bounce down the final stairs and slam headfirst into the sturdy old door but he did hear the stomach-turning crunch of bone against wood. He smiled.

When the man in the mask reached Carmen, he pocketed his gun and leant forward to turn the key in the lock and allow the door to swing open. He stepped over the crumpled woman and, removing his mask, walked out to join the tourists making their way to the restaurants and amusements down by the beachfront, leaving it to the horrified B&B owners to call the police after they returned home to find their unexpected guest, silent and cold, crumpled in the side doorway.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meanwhile, in the basement...

“Mulder, this is not an X-File,” Scully declared, about 10 slides into the show Mulder had prepared for her. She’d reached that conclusion around slide number four, but Mulder put so much effort into these presentations that she hated to spoil it for him.

“Very good, Scully!” Mulder acknowledged.

“So why then am I watching a patented ‘Fox Mulder production’ if you know it isn’t an X-file?”

“Because the dumbasses who sent me this case think it is an X-file and I think it’s an interesting case. May I proceed?” Mulder indicated his unfinished slide show.

Scully grinned, “Please do!”

“There have been 4 victims found so far. The victims appear to have had little in common; not sex, age nor ethnicity are consistent across the victim pool. They didn’t live in the same suburb, they worked in different parts of town in various industries. One was single, two were married, one divorced. One had children. The cause of death varied in each case too: one stabbing, one suspicious fall, one poisoning, one hit and run ‘accident’.”

“How on earth were the cases linked if they are so unrelated.”

“Fingerprints, mostly partials, were found at the crime scenes, on the victims, or on objects they had in their possession when their bodies were discovered.”

“How does a hit and run victim collect a fingerprint from their killer, Mulder?” Scully queried, her trademark eyebrow lift fully engaged.

“It was on the briefcase he was carrying. The assumption being that the killer must have encountered the victim sometime earlier in the day and followed him to complete the kill at a later point.”

“And the local police think it’s an X-file because…”

“As mentioned back at slide 10: Dumbasses.”

Scully chuckled. “No wonder the local police always hate us.”

“They hate _me_ , Scully. They all want to ask _you_ out for dinner.” Mulder countered.

Scully blushed. She almost always received at least one invitation per case when they were working with other agencies. Occasionally she had been mildly interested. Every now and then she had said yes. Only once was there a second date. Logistics and a certain longing for a certain leggy special agent always intruded at some point and these days she just said no upfront to avoid an awkward phone call down the track.

Scully would never admit this to Mulder for fear of how he would react if his suspicions were confirmed (or that he might ask her why she ultimately rejected all of her suitors). Of course, Mulder knew or guessed about most of them. At first, it had resulted in him ditching Scully or trying to distance himself from her but the more he grew to care about Scully, the more he only wanted what was best for her, so he stopped sulking around the same time she stopped accepting the invitations. He was afraid to ask her why in case he didn’t get the answer he was hoping for.

“Any-way…” Mulder nudged Scully with his shoulder and kept talking. Scully gave him a little smile, grateful he was allowing the subject to drop. “It’s just a case that no one else wants. They can’t see a pattern so they’re just going to wait for more bodies to drop and for the killer to make a mistake. Seems lazy to me.” He shrugged.

“So can you see a pattern?” Scully asked.

“Not yet. The only thing in the file that is suggestive is that each person’s significant others report that their final movements were uncharacteristic.”

“How so?”

“From what we know so far, reports that were pieced together by the local agencies before the crimes were linked, all the victims spent at least some time on their last day going to places that were out of character, trespassing, stealing…behaviour for which their families, friends and employers could not account.”

“And how do you account for this inexplicable behaviour, Agent Mulder?”

“I’m glad you asked, Agent Scully. What if the killer was forcing them to complete tasks or assignments in the hours leading up to their deaths?”

“For what purpose?”

“A pertinent question, Dr Scully. Let’s try and find out shall we?”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On the case.

The breakthrough came when they interviewed the third victim’s colleagues. Monroe Wilson had arrived at work as normal, spent the morning at his desk, interacted cordially with his secretary and co-workers and then packed up his briefcase and left for lunch. After lunch, he had missed a routine staff meeting at their downtown branch. His role there would merely have been to fly the flag for head office, so when he didn’t show, they assumed he’d been caught up elsewhere and the meeting went on without him. It was only when his partner called Wilson’s secretary to find out why Wilson hadn’t arrived home that they discovered the missed appointment.

“Did Mr Wilson eat lunch at the same place every day?” Scully asked Wilson’s secretary.

“Not every day, but if he was headed to the branch meeting afterwards he’d often pack his briefcase and head to the diner across the road.” The woman pointed out the window and indicated a building similar to the one they were in. On the ground floor, Mulder and Scully could see a glass-fronted diner, quite popular judging by the current number of filled tables.

“Do you happen to know if he ate there on the day he went missing?” Mulder asked.

The woman nodded tearfully. “Yes, I saw him go in. He sat at one of the tables by the window. He… he waved up at me as he sat down. We often joked that I could spy on him from the office.”

“Did he eat lunch alone?” Scully asked.

“I think so. I went for my lunch about 10 minutes later, but I didn’t see anyone with him before I left. He left the table soon after he arrived-I guess to wash up. He’d opened his briefcase; he’d said he was going to review the agenda for his 2 pm meeting while he ate. That’s when I left.”

“Thank you, Ms Lynch. You’ve been very helpful. Please contact us if you think of anything else. Here’s my card.” Agent Mulder concluded their interview and left with Scully.

\--

“The diner could have been where the killer left the fingerprint on that briefcase, Scully. That might be the point of contact. If Wilson’s behaviour is any indication, his morning had been normal. He goes to lunch and then something happens to make him miss his meeting.”

“If that’s the case, someone in the diner may have seen the killer talking to Wilson. He was a regular there. Someone might have noticed,” Scully added. They headed across the street.

“Shall we have lunch while we’re here, Scully?”

“Sure.” They asked for a table and were seated by a window. They scanned the menu and ordered. While they waited for their food they continued to discuss the case.

“Maybe Wilson and his killer had some sort of altercation? The killer could have followed him out of the restaurant and taken the opportunity to run him down. Perhaps the victims are random-picked because of some perceived slight to the killer,” suggested Scully.

“It’s certainly possible, but the street Wilson was killed on wasn’t near here, or the downtown branch where he was supposed to be headed, or even near his house or his partner’s work. No one can suggest why Wilson might have been walking through that part of town. He wasn’t even particularly near where they found his car. He’d been on foot for a while.”

“Or he caught a bus or a cab,” countered Scully.

“That’s true. Good catch, Scully. We should try and check that out- I’ll call Lewis. Although he’d probably prefer a call from you..” Scully balled up a napkin and threw it at her cheeky partner. “Shut up, Mulder.”

“He’s a nice guy, Scully. Much nicer than the usual try-hards who hit on you during cases.”

“He is. Which is why I said no. I don’t want to hurt him.”

“What makes you think you’d hurt him, Scully?” Mulder asked curiously.

“Leave it, Mulder. I’m just not interested, okay?” Her voice was sharp.

“Of course. I’m sorry, Scully. I wasn’t trying to upset you. I just want you to be happy; you know that, right?” Scully looked up at Mulder briefly and nodded.

“I’m happy,” she said quietly, looking everywhere but into Mulder’s hazel gaze.

“Okay, good. That’s good,” he responded. “Excuse me then. I’ll just go make that call.” Mulder rose from the table and walked outside, casting furtive glances at Scully through the window while he talked to Lewis and asked him to circulate Wilson’s photo to the bus and cab companies that serviced the east side of town. Scully’s face was set in her usual serious, ‘I’m thinking’ pose, but she didn’t look upset. He was relieved. By the time he’d made his request of Lewis and returned to the restaurant, the waitress had delivered their food and Scully was asking her about Wilson’s last visit.

“Yes, I was so sad to hear what happened to him. He was always very polite, tipped well, never any bother. I work the lunch shift most weekdays so I was here. I don’t recall him meeting anyone, or even talking to anyone.”

“Was there anything at all unusual that happened during that shift, Tanya?” Scully prompted.

“I don’t think so. This is a good place to work. We mostly get customers from nearby offices. They come in, order, eat, pay and go. They don’t make a mess or a fuss. A lot of them read or work while they eat. I think Mr Wilson was reading that day. I remember he had his briefcase open on the chair because he came back from the bathroom just as I brought him his lunch and he had to clear some papers off the table so I could serve his food. He picked up one little page again and was reading it while he ate. He still had that out when he paid, he seemed a little distracted by it, I guess.”

“What makes you remember that?” asked Mulder.

“Only that you’re asking me to think about that day. Usually, Mr Wilson would pack up all his things before he called for the check. He’d pay and then stand and go. He wasn’t one to come up to the counter to pay. Even if we were busy he’d wait, say thank you and goodbye. He was a nice man,” she finished.

“Thanks, Tanya. Here’s our number if you think of anything else. Maybe you could ask the rest of the staff if they can think of anything unusual that’s happened lately. Maybe someone working the other shifts?” The woman accepted Mulder’s card, nodded, and left them to eat their lunch.

“Sounds like the killer would have had easy access to Wilson’s briefcase while he was in the bathroom,” Mulder began.

“Tanya didn’t see anyone hanging around, so it was either a regular, or it happened quickly. Do you know which part of the case had the fingerprint?” Scully asked.

“The top right corner I believe. It was only a partial, but enough to match with the other prints. The killer could have opened the case or bumped it in passing, or held it while he took something out…”

“Or put something in-the pamphlet or page Tanya said Wilson was so interested in,” Scully suggested. Mulder’s eyes lit up.

“You’re right, Scully. That makes more sense. Maybe it was a demand or a threat; compelling enough for Wilson to ignore his afternoon plans and do whatever was requested of him on the note. Just a second!” Mulder jumped up and went to the counter, where Tanya was just finishing up with a customer. Mulder chatted with her briefly and returned to his curious partner. He explained.

“I just asked Tanya if she saw whether the page was typed or handwritten. It was typed. No pictures. She said it was like a page from a novel, only it didn’t have a torn edge, so it couldn’t have been pulled from an actual book.”

“So whatever was on the page was premeditated and brought here deliberately. Do you think it was always intended for Wilson?” Scully wondered.

“It doesn’t sound like his schedule was regular enough for someone to be guaranteed that he would be here on that day. I guess it’s possible that the killer had been here on other days when Wilson failed to show up. That doesn’t feel right though, Scully. Tanya seems pretty observant. Unless Wilson was targeted by a regular, someone hanging about waiting for him would attract attention here. I still think this was a random victim selection.”

“In that case, whatever was on the page wasn’t a specific threat to Wilson or his family or friends,” Scully pointed out. “It was either something generic that just happened to fit Wilson well enough that he was compelled to take it seriously, or it wasn’t a threat at all.”

“What other motivation would compel a man to leave a restaurant, miss work appointments and end up on the other side of town?”

“Shame, greed, lust, curiosity, power?” Scully volunteered. “All the usual human motivations.”

“So cynical, Agent Scully.” She flashed Mulder a smile.

“We humans are simple creatures when it all boils down, Mulder. Like every animal we have needs and we spend all our time trying to meet them. If we’re sufficiently socialised we try to do that without causing harm to others. Not everyone in society is willing or able to live by that ethical code. Those people take what they need with little or no regard for the wellbeing of others.”

“So what does our killer want?” Mulder encouraged Scully to continue.  
“Well, if he’s choosing victims at random it’s not revenge, so probably not motivated by shame, anger or fear. I can’t see how he could be making money unless he’s a hitman.” Mulder shook his head at that and Scully agreed. “The diversity of victims makes it unlikely that there’s a sexual motive to the crime. What does that leave us?”

“Curiosity or power. We really need to know what was on that paper and find out if any of the other victims received a note. Are you ready to leave, Scully?” She was, so they settled their check and headed back to the police station.

In the car, Scully reminded Mulder of the comment he’d made when he presented the case to her. “You wondered if the killer was giving his victims assignments or tasks to complete. It’s possible Wilson’s piece of paper was his first task.”

“That’s possible, but what would be compelling enough to make you ditch our afternoon plans and wander off on some weird treasure hunt compiled by someone you don’t know, Scully?”

“Well, in my case it would be because _you_ made me do it!” Scully and Mulder both chuckled at that. “In your case, it would be because you like weird things and mysteries.” At that, Mulder took his eyes off the road to make eye contact with Scully.

“Could that be it? Someone who wants to ‘play’ with his victims? He sets up a challenge and what, if they pass they live, fail they die?” Scully asked.

“If it were that, wouldn’t we have some survivors who had come forward to tell of their experience? They might not suggest it was attempted murder, but fraud or some kind of coercion. Unless he delivers on whatever he promised if they do win?” Mulder countered. “Or maybe the game is weighted in his favour so it seems like they have a chance, but ultimately they are doomed to fail.”

“We really need to see that note,” said Scully. Mulder agreed. He felt like they had made some sort of breakthrough, but it hadn’t brought them any closer to the identity of the killer. However, it might account for the random selection of victims and the array of murder methods.

“It feels like he’s posing himself an intellectual problem. If victim A does this, then I’ll do this. If they chose that, then I’ll go here and do this. Is he just amusing himself?”

“If so, he thinks he’s very clever. That’s good. Those smug bastards always trip themselves up.” Scully mused.

\--

Back at the station they found Detective Dan Lewis and began to fill him in on their morning’s discoveries. Without overstating their case, Mulder and Scully raised the possibility that the killer was laying out a trail of clues or problems or even challenges for the victims.

“It could account for the unexpected behaviours discovered when the victims’ last hours were investigated,” Mulder suggested. A knock at the door interrupted their conversation. A young officer nodded politely at the three senior investigators and handed a plastic bag over to Detective Lewis.

“Sir, this was handed into the station on Whitmore Ave by a young woman. She says she was playing a game but got scared when this clue directed her to a police station. She was afraid she’d be in trouble and was going to throw the note away, but she showed her father, who encouraged her to bring it in.”

As he was listening, Lewis had quickly scanned the note and handed it off to Mulder. Scully moved closer to her partner and he held the page so they could both see it.

“Is the girl safe?” asked Lewis.

“Yes, sir, she and her father are waiting at the station for further advice.”

“I wasn’t convinced your theory about the series of challenges was correct, Agents. It seems you were correct although it still sounds rather far-fetched,” said Lewis as he dismissed the younger officer.

“Far-fetched is kinda what we do,” mumbled Mulder, his attention more focused on the note than on Lewis’ approbation, however muted.

The page matched the description they had been given by Tanya, the waitress who had served Monroe Wilson right before he disappeared. The paper could have been torn out of any recently published paperback, although the lack of torn edge showed that this was not its origin. The top of the page had text arranged in paragraph blocks. There was a gap and then two shorter sections of text-just a line or two each.

> You are investigating a series of murders. Clues are scant and you have no real leads. You visit the victim’s families and friends, hoping that someone will hold the answers, but alas, you draw blank after blank. These people are all so unoriginal; so boring.
> 
> Until this very moment, you have been unaware that the killer has been asking questions too. He offers you the chance to catch him. Will you play the game? You have two choices: go solo and head back to the diner for more information (try the tuna melt this time) or stick with your partner and reinvestigate the scene of Ms Miller’s downfall.
> 
> Of course, you may also choose to ignore this offer and just wait for the next body!

Mulder’s face creased with worry as he read the final lines:

> Do you A) Ditch the redhead; or
> 
> B) Let your pretty little partner do the driving?

Wordlessly, Mulder handed the page to Scully to let her finish reading. She scanned the options and looked up at her partner.

“Mulder, that’s your panic face,” Scully teased gently to ease the tension that had built up in the room as they read.

“This is not my panic face, Agent Scully,” he replied. It had worked. Mulder’s features relaxed and he gave Scully a smile as they both thought back to that conversation and everything that had followed; so much shared history held between them. Then Mulder refocused.

“Scully…this means he knows we are investigating this case. The choices have been personalized.”

“What do you think that means, Mulder?”

“It means you were right-he is a smug bastard and we need to be very careful!”

Scully turned to Lewis, who had been watching them closely. He knew now why Dana Scully had turned down his offer of dinner; he wondered if she knew. “Dan, has it been mentioned in the media that the FBI is working this case with you?”

“Uh, no, I don’t think so. My boss tends to be a bit of a glory hound, so he won’t want to share the credit when this gets solved. We haven’t even made it public that the cases are connected, so there hasn’t been much media interest at all.”

Scully turned back to Mulder. “So how does the killer know about us then?”

“Another pertinent question, Scully. You’re getting quite good at this.” Scully gave him a shove and he grinned at her. “He must be watching this station, or, more likely, the crime scenes. The way he mentions the diner sounds like he saw us there. If he overheard our names it wouldn’t take long to find out who we are, I guess.”

“Agents, before we discuss how to react to this note, can you continue with the theory you were sharing when Officer Lu brought in the note?”

“It’s possible that the killer plans out the challenges, seeds multiple copies of the first note around in whatever area he’s targeting and then heads to the second location. Only one copy of the second note is placed, so even if more than one person responds to the first clue, they won’t be able to continue the ‘game’. Lucky them!”

“So… the thing that these victims had in common was… curiosity? They died because they liked a good puzzle?” asked Lewis.

“It appears so. That’s why the victim choice appears to be so random-it is. The killer puts out multiple baits and just waits at the place nominated by the first clue. Whoever shows up first becomes his next target. I’d guess that the first clue leads the victim to somewhere nearby, somewhere safe. They’d be reassured by that and more likely to continue,” answered Mulder.

“That’s insane,” Lewis shook his head.

“It’s callous, certainly. I doubt he’s insane,” cautioned Mulder.

“And now he’s targeting us,” reminded Scully.

“Yes, I suppose we should feel honoured,” added Mulder. Lewis just watched them both, not sure how to interpret this seemingly light-hearted banter. Scully noticed Lewis’ confusion.

“Forgive us, Lewis. We’re taking this very seriously, believe me. It’s just that we tend to meet a lot of people who show scant regard for the lives of others. This killer is just more prepared to disregard the needs of others in order to meet his own than most of us are. His behaviour is despicable, but not unfathomable.”

Lewis nodded. “Do we respond to his bait?”

Mulder looked at Scully, who looked resolute. He reached into his trouser pockets and retrieved the car keys, tossing them to Scully and then addressing Lewis.

“Why don’t you go and talk to the girl and her father, see what you can find out, especially about the first note and what made her continue to follow the clues. Did she go home and show her father the note or did she call him to meet her? Does she still have all the notes?”

“And can you find someone who is vaguely Mulder’s proportions and colouring to go and check the diner? With discrete back-up, obviously. Are we assuming the next clue will be another page like this one?” asked Scully.

“Seems likely,” said Mulder, and Lewis nodded in agreement.

“Are we agreed that this suspect is working alone?” Scully probed.

“Statistics suggest that’s probably the case,” Mulder responded.

“So he can’t be watching both places. Is he betting on our response, or is waiting for us further down the track, or nowhere at all?”

“All excellent questions. Let’s all assume he will be watching and waiting for us and take suitable precautions. My hunch though is that he’s long gone from both the diner and the B&B,” was Mulder’s reply. “It will be important to know what is held at both locations before anyone follows any further clues. It’s possible that at some point, both clues will point to the same location, allowing the killer access to everyone on the case.”

Lewis excused himself to begin making arrangements for his part of the response, promising to stay in touch. Mulder and Scully made a call to the B&B requesting that the owners and any guests quietly leave the premises immediately, and arranged to collect the keys from a nearby location.

“I might as well drive. If he is watching from somewhere, it will look like we are following his rules,” said Scully.

“As I said, I doubt he’s anywhere near these locations, but if putting you in the driver’s seat is part of his plan, it suggests he’s going to use superior size or strength to try and overpower you, so have your gun ready when we get out,” Mulder suggested. “Or…if he’s done his research, he knows you’re a much better shot than I am and will be ready to attack my side of the car, so maybe cover me while I get out!”

“You’re safe with me, partner,” chuckled Scully.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mulder and Scully join the game

The B&B was by the shore, on the edge of town, so the drive took Mulder and Scully about 20 minutes. They still beat the rest of the teams since those arrangements had required some setup. Mulder and Scully drove past the address to the café where they had agreed to meet the couple who owned the B&B. They were obviously distressed at the ongoing connection to the death of Ms Miller but were anxious to help. They hadn’t seen anyone on the property that couldn’t be accounted for and couldn’t begin to imagine how someone might hide a note in the building without someone else finding it. The house was now completely empty.

Mulder thanked the couple for their assistance and promised to send someone to fetch them when the building had been cleared. He and Scully returned to the car and drove around the block until they were once again approaching the B&B. They parked in the street and both unholstered their weapons.

“Ready?”

“Yep.”

The pair scanned the quiet street and then checked the exterior of the garden wall. There was nothing to attract their attention. Using a key, they entered by the side gate, immediately noting the trellis that led up to the third-floor bedroom where Carmen Miller had made her fatal decision. Investigators had found that the lattice had been detached from the wall just below the window so had Carmen chosen that route of escape, she would still have fallen to her death. The garden itself was empty.

“What did the note say, Scully? Investigate the scene of her downfall?”

“That’s right. So, the stairs?”

“Yep. Let’s work our way up. We’ll secure this bottom door and you can head up-you’ll be quieter than me. Once you’ve cleared the stairwell and the bedroom at the top, I’ll lock the door and follow you.”

“Let’s go,” was Scully’s focused response. Mulder took out the key the owner’s had provided. He inserted it into the lock and opened the door while Scully provided cover. He swung the door wide to provide as much light as possible and to ensure his view of the garden continued to be unobstructed. He nodded to Scully when he was ready and she slipped past him and, using her flashlight, searched the bottom flight of stairs, especially vigilant for tripwires or other hazards. Finding nothing, she moved up to the first landing and carefully made her way around the first corner. The second flight yielded no surprises, nor did the third. The door at the top of the stairs was open. Scully made a visual check of the room and then slide along the wall until she could check behind the open door. Nothing. Finally, she moved to the hall doorway and scanned the hallway. It was empty. Scully closed and locked the bedroom door and then called an ‘all clear’ down to Mulder, who was waiting impatiently for her signal. He locked the door to the garden and then bounded up the stairs. When he arrived, Scully handed him a pair of gloves and then locked the door to the stairs too, affording them a bit of extra time should someone wish to surprise them.

Mulder moved to the centre of the room and slowly spun on the spot, looking on the surfaces in the room and then checking the walls, floor and ceiling.

“There’s nothing obvious,” said Scully.

“We have no idea when he placed the note here, if there is a note, so it would need to be somewhere the owners or guests weren’t going to casually notice,” Mulder pointed out.

“Let’s start at the door. I’ll go clockwise, you work anti-clockwise. I’ll meet you at the bed,” Mulder joked. Scully rolled her eyes but began the search. Her side of the room had a small floor rug, a bedside table with one drawer and not much else. She was soon finished. Mulder’s side had a chest of drawers in addition to the bedside table but he too was soon done, pulling the drawers away from the wall for good measure. They met at the bed and stripped back the quilt, lifted the pillows and removed the pillowcases, stripped the sheets and checked the mattress and base.

“Remember to get a clean-up crew in here when we leave,” said Scully. She looked around the room again, then pointed, “Drapes.” Just then, Mulder’s phone rang. He listened carefully, explained that they had found nothing so far, and hung up.

“The officer at the diner found a card propped against the front window. It’s a bust. The suspect either guessed we’d come here or had two different pages prepared and put out the relevant one at the diner when he saw it wasn’t me. The card basically says ‘I said send Mulder’. I hope we guessed right, Scully.” Scully pointed again to the draperies.

Mulder joined her and they stretched each expanse of fabric out and checked it front and back. Mulder reached up and felt his way along the pelmet. “Nothing.”

Scully sighed and leant against the window sill. She looked out to the distance and watched the waves sneak up onto the shore.

“I was hoping we’d find something in here, but I guess we need to work our way through the rest of the building. We’d better call in some back-up,” said Mulder.

Scully sighed again and dropped her gaze from the horizon, preparing to join Mulder in what was now a major task. As she began to turn back to the room, her attention was drawn to the wall that surrounded the garden. On the top row of brickwork, she saw a white rectangle, weighted down with a rock. It would be hidden from an observer at ground level.

“Mulder!” He hurried to join her and looked down where Scully was indicating. They turned together and Scully led the way down the stairs, again checking for trip points or traps at each stage, despite their urgency to get to the garden. At the bottom of the stairwell, Mulder unlocked and opened the door while Scully swept the area, checking for danger. The garden was still empty. Mulder holstered his gun and headed to the brick wall while Scully maintained surveillance. While he could not see the top of the wall, he was able to reach up and run his hand gingerly across the brickwork in the approximate position they had seen the white object. His hand soon encountered the rock they had seen. Mulder felt around until he found the piece of paper under the rock. He carefully lifted it down and slid the page into the plastic bag Scully held out to him. Once it was safely stored, the two agents stood together and quickly read the text:

> You find your next clue at the top of the garden wall. You stand in the garden reading the note, while scanning your surroundings for the killer…

“Fuck, this guy is creepy, Scully!” said Mulder, as they both looked wildly around the garden.

“Read it aloud, Mulder,” said Scully, so she could continue to scan the space as Mulder read her the note.

> You find your next clue at the top of the garden wall. You stand in the garden reading the note, while scanning your surroundings for the killer. You played his game and won. You have your next clue. Will you continue to play? Either way, the killer holds all the cards (except this one). Do you retire and wait for his next move, or do you play on? The choice is yours.
> 
> Do you A) Head to the station; or

> B) Take a nice stroll on the pier-try the ice-cream

“What do you think, Scully?” asked Mulder when he finished reading.

“Well, he seems to be giving us an out each time. I say we call for plainclothes back-up and then take a walk.”

“Come on then, let me buy you an ice-cream,” Mulder offered.

“Done, but buy yourself one too-I’m not sharing,” Scully warned.

“You’re mean, Scully. I can’t carry an ice-cream and hold a gun. We need to share.”

“You have two hands, figure it out,” Scully’s flippant answers did not diminish her alertness as they headed back to the car. She holstered her weapon as they reached the roadway, but kept her hand close. She threw Mulder the keys and slid into the passenger seat, already on her phone organizing back-up down at the pier and a clean-up crew to restore the bedroom they had searched.

Mulder slid the driver’s seat back and drove away, turning south and heading for the pier while Scully finished her phone call.

“And someone needs to meet us at the pier and get these keys back to the B&B owners. Their phone number will be on file. Ring them and let them know when the room is sorted.”

Mulder smiled at his laser-focused partner. She rarely admitted it, but she thrived on fieldwork. He loved watching her work when they were deep in the heart of a case.


	5. Chapter 5

When they parked at the closest point to the pier that Mulder could find, he looked across to Scully. “Ready?” She nodded just as Mulder’s phone rang. He listened, indicating with a nod of his head to Scully that they were clear to get out of the vehicle. The back-up had arrived.

Scully stepped out onto the sidewalk and Mulder walked around the front of the car to join her. They strolled slowly along until they reached the start of the wooden pier that stretched out into the bay. The water was calm, the air cool, the sky clear. Children raced back and forth from one side of the pier to the other, giggling and shrieking. Couples strolled or leant into one another, braced against the wooden balustrade. One of the back-up teams had gone ahead to scout out the area around the ice-cream stand, the other was somewhere behind Mulder and Scully.

It was an unusual situation, pretending to be members of the general public, but knowing that if the suspect were here, he would already be watching them, no doubt laughing at the position he had put them in.

Mulder and Scully scanned their surroundings avidly, partly to look for someone paying them more attention than was necessary, but mostly to spot a little white rectangle of paper that appeared out of place. There was nothing.

When they reached the ice-cream stand near the end of the pier, Mulder jerked his head toward the booth.

“Chocolate?” he asked. Scully nodded. As they waited in line, they were both searching for their next clue, looking at walls, on tables and eventually, on the serving counter. Nothing stood out and none of the people around the ice-cream stand fit the profile of their killer.

“One chocolate, please,” said Mulder when they reached the head of the queue. He paid and then handed the cone to Scully.

“Thanks, Mulder.” She tasted the velvety ice-cream and wished for a moment that they really were just taking a walk so she could enjoy the creamy treat properly. Mulder watched her with the ghost of a smile on his face. Scully rarely indulged herself and even less commonly allowed anyone else to observe her innocent pleasures. He wished she would.

Mulder led them over to stand with their backs to the ocean. Scully allowed herself one more bite and then handed the cone over to Mulder. He accepted it but quirked his head to one side.

“I didn’t think you shared ice-cream, Miss Scully?”

“Only with very good friends.” She gave him a sideways glance and a cheeky smile. Mulder bit into the chocolate cone and closed his eyes to indicate his enjoyment of the treat. He went to hand it back but Scully shook her head.

“All yours,” she smiled up at him. While he ate she pondered, “Have we picked the wrong option, or are we not looking hard enough?”

“Let’s think it through. It’s a public place and he only wants us to find the page. True?” Mulder began. Scully agreed.

“Ok, so it’s not going to be somewhere a kid will pick it up, or a cleaner will toss it into the bin.”

“Or somewhere so prominent that someone curious finds it and decides to pick one of the options, or pocket it as a curio,” Scully chipped in. “He knows who he wants to find this one, it isn’t random.”

“So how does he tailor it to us? The first one was on top of a wall, invisible from the ground, and pretty hard to…” Mulder stopped, thinking. He popped the last bit of ice-cream cone into his mouth and finished chewing before he continued.

“Promise not to get angry?” he asked, only half kidding.

“Why? What insulting thing are you about to say?” Scully replied, only half kidding.

“Well, you spotted the first page, but you’d never have been able to reach it without finding a ladder. I wonder if this one is deliberately placed to be accessible by someone rather…”

“Shorter?”

“Yeah.”

Scully snorted. “It’s not news to me that I’m short, Mulder.” She was already scanning the area with new eyes. “The underside of a seat, or balustrade, or the back of one of these posts, facing out to the water,” she concluded. Mulder gave a nod, already on the phone to request the back-up teams assist with the search by concentrating on those areas.

It was one of the officers in the back-up team who found it, taped to the back of the second last post on the pier, facing out to the ocean. He hurried back to where he could see Mulder and Scully peering under wooden benches about halfway back to the shore.

“Uh, agents?” he said, gaining their attention. Both were grateful to stand and dust off their knees. Mulder groaned dramatically as he gained his full height and Scully rolled her eyes at his antics.

“I think this is what you’re looking for,” said the officer as he held out the page, tape still attached. Scully reached into her pocket and removed a plastic bag. She had the man slide the page into the bag before allowing Mulder to take it. He checked they were unobserved and began to read the note aloud.

> You hunt high and low, fore and aft. Has someone else found your prize or did you choose the wrong clue? But no, here it is, out of sight but not out of mind. Such clever little hide-and-seekers! You watch over your shoulders for the killer. Is he watching you? (Not this time!) Is he waiting? (Oh, yes, but for how much longer?) You are finding these games a little tiresome: surely it’s time for action? Let’s up the stakes. Next time, I’ll bring a friend. Choose correctly and you can ask them all about me. Choose poorly? Bring a body bag.
> 
> Do you A) Have breakfast at Tiffany’s; or

> B) Join the Breakfast Club?

As Mulder finished reading, he and Scully exchanged sober looks. Mulder thrust the letter at the officer who had found it. “Get this to Lewis! Have him send copies of all the notes to our motel,” he said as he took Scully by the elbow and started the walk back to their car.

“Scully, I’ve been treating this as a damn treasure hunt: I bought you an ice-cream cone! Someone is going to die if we get this wrong. Let’s go back to the motel and think this through. We have until the morning unless he gets bored with us before then.”


	6. Chapter 6

At the motel the pair agreed to shower then meet back for dinner in Mulder’s room-he would organize food. Hopefully, the paperwork would be delivered by the time they were finished.

Scully took her time, knowing that Mulder was going back out to get them dinner after he had showered. She thought about the case and what they knew so far, then tried to not think about the case to let her mind make any intuitive connections it could. When she was ready she gathered her laptop and the phone book from the room and headed up to Mulder’s.

“It’s open,” he yelled in response to Scully’s knock. She headed in, her stomach rumbling noisily in response to the tempting food smells emanating from the corner of the room where a small wooden table was laden with Chinese take-out. A six-pack of beer was sitting in the centre of the table. The room was much like Scully’s own; two small double beds took up the remaining floor space.

Mulder appeared from the bathroom just as Scully dropped her laptop and the book onto the second of the beds. He was dressed in a loose pair of basketball shorts and one of his knicks tees, minus the sleeves. His hair was wet and drying in chaotic spikes. He hadn’t bothered to shave. “I take if from your growling belly that you’re hungry?” he teased.

Scully shot him a grin, “Ravenous! Let’s eat!” She was dressed in slacks and a soft sweater and had retained her heels. She hadn’t washed her hair so fell in its usual polished bob. She had washed her makeup off and looked far too young to be a seasoned FBI agent, proof that looks can be deceiving. Mulder idly wondered why she had chosen such a formal outfit given that she almost always ended up curled up asleep on the bed hours before he was ready to stop work.

“Beer?” Mulder offered. Scully shook her head.

“Not yet, thanks.”

Mulder joined Scully at the table and they both helped themselves to their favourites. They concentrated on eating at first, but once their initial hunger had been sated, they began their usual back and forth banter about the case, the news, politics, cryptids, best ever Chinese take-out and whatever else came to mind. Scully had finished eating and was picking out the cashews from the remains of her chicken dish while Mulder finished up his meal. When he was done Scully stood and began clearing the table. She bundled all the trash into the takeout bags and headed for the door with them.

“You’re very tidy tonight, Scully,” Mulder commented. She just gave him a smile and continued out the door to find a trashcan. When she returned she collected her laptop and the phone book and began to set up in the dining area. Again Mulder wondered why Scully was deviating from their usual routine. Normally they would prop themselves against the headboard of the bed. At some point, Scully would tire of being upright and swing herself around so she was resting on her elbows with her head down by the foot of the bed.

Just as Scully settled herself on the chair there was a knock at the door. Mulder answered it and invited Detective Lewis to join them. Lewis accepted and looked curiously around him.

“Good evening, Dana,” he said when he noticed Scully at the table.

“Hi, Dan. Thanks for bringing the files. Did you get anything interesting from the girl or her father?” Scully asked.

“Only that she found the first page on a notice board at her library. We went and checked-there were three more copies pinned to the board and a couple of spaces where there might have been copies removed. As we theorized, the first challenge was simple and very local to where the first page was found. It was interesting enough to encourage someone to play but didn’t require a big expenditure of time or effort. And the location of the second page was also somewhere very public, so it seemed safe. It was only when she was directed to a police station that the girl became wary. Fortunately for us, she went to her father and he brought her to us.”

“So no contact with anyone who might be our killer?” asked Mulder.

“No contact with anyone as far as she is concerned,” responded Lewis. “Whether or not she was being watched remains to be seen.”

“My guess is that she was, at least from the second location-the killer wanted to be sure we’d get the note in a timely fashion. That’s assuming that his intention was always to have the third clue point to tomorrow morning.”

“Dan, do those clues suggest any local addresses to you,” Scully asked.

“Well, there’s no Tiffany’s in town, that’s for sure,” Lewis chuckled, and Mulder and Scully joined in.

“Is there a Fifth Avenue?” Scully wondered.

“There is, yes. It’s in the central business area, just off Main Street. Why?”

“That’s the address of Tiffany’s in the book and movie. What sort of businesses are there?” prompted Scully.

“Boutiques; clothes and gift stores mostly. A florist, a café…” The three detectives looked at one another.

“A café fits the clue,” acknowledged Mulder. “Do you know what it’s called?”

“Not off the top of my head, but I’ll find out,” said Lewis.

“What about the second option?” Scully asked. “Any ideas?”

“No. It’s not the name of any business in town, we’ve checked that. I’ll leave you to think about that one. I’ll go check on the café and start getting teams ready to deploy when we have a plan. Is there anything else?”

“Thanks, Lewis, stay in touch. Our cell phones will stay on. And we’ll be in touch as soon as we have any ideas,” Mulder reached out and shook the other man’s hand.

“Goodnight, Dan,” said Scully.

“Night, Dana,” he replied, then saw himself out. Mulder followed him to the door and locked it after Lewis left. When he turned back around it was to find Scully had kicked off her shoes and removed her jumper to reveal one of her customary after-work t-shirts. She grinned when she saw Mulder watching her and finished her transformation by unbuttoning her slacks to reveal a pair of silky navy blue pyjama pants.

“That’s better,” she said. “Beer?”

“Uh, sure, thanks,” Mulder replied. She walked over to Mulder who was still standing by the door and handed him the bottle. She placed hers by the bedside table and went back to the dining area to retrieve her laptop and the case notes that Lewis had delivered. She threw the case file onto the bed nearest to Mulder and then plonked herself down on the other bed, adjusting the pillows so she could sit back against the headboard. Finally, she took a hair-tie from around one wrist and pulled her hair back into a short, messy pony. Mulder was still standing by the door.

“What?” she asked.

“What just happened?” Mulder queried, his expression puzzled. Scully laughed.

“Mulder, if Lewis or an officer he sent had walked in and seen me like this, what do you think they might have concluded?” Sully asked, one eyebrow raised.

“Oh.” He thought for a moment. “Should I not have been dressed like this then?” he asked, tugging at his top.

“I doubt Lewis paid any attention to how you were dressed, Mulder. That’s not how it works.”

“It must be exhausting to have to think about that stuff all the time, Scully.”

“It is.”

“Do you really think Lewis would have made value judgments about us if you were dressed like you are now? Or drinking a beer? Or sitting on the bed?” Mulder asked.

“About me. Not about us. You’d get a high five and I’d get a reputation. That’s just how it works. Not Lewis, maybe. He seems like a decent man. But I didn’t know it would be him dropping off the paperwork, and anyway, I wouldn’t have wanted to make him feel uncomfortable, even if he wasn’t going to run straight back to the station to tell everyone we were sharing a room.”

“I’ve never really thought about how it looks when we work like this,” Mulder admitted.

“Yeah, I know. It’s okay. It’s not how you think, so it’s never occurred to you that others can be very judgmental. I don’t think you understand how rare a creature you are, partner. I know you don’t equate my worth to my wardrobe.”

“I do notice, Scully,” Mulder admitted quietly.

“I know you do. You like my black pencil skirt and prefer it when I wear the ribbed camisoles under my jackets instead of a button-up.”

“I…I’m sorry if I’ve been inappropriate, it’s just we spend a lot of time together and I can’t help but notice…” Mulder’s cheeks were suffused with colour. Scully hurried to reassure him.

“Not at all. I like that you appreciate how I look. But I _love_ that you know it’s not your place to comment on what I choose to wear. I can be myself when I’m with you.” Scully gave Mulder a smile and received a shy grin in return.

“Can you read me the latest note again?” Scully asked, effectively ending the conversation.

“Just the last bit; the options,” she clarified.

“Do you A) Have breakfast at Tiffany’s? or B) Join the Breakfast Club?” Mulder read. “I feel like the café on 5th Avenue fits the first clue really well. Good catch, Scully.”

“Thanks. I like the book,” Scully replied.

“Is there a book called ‘Breakfast Club’? That would keep things simple,” Mulder joked.

“No, but there is a movie called The Breakfast Club,” remarked Scully. “Could that be it?”

“Yeah, it could.- the B and C are capitalized, like in a title. Where’s that phone book, Scully?” Mulder stood and retrieved the book from the table and started to check the alphabetical listings, first for cafes and then for restaurants. Scully phoned Lewis and asked him if it rang any bells, although if it was the name of a local place she assumed he would already have mentioned it. He promised to ask the rest of the team to start brainstorming possibilities.

“I took a drive past the café on 5th on my way back to the station,” Lewis said. “It’s called Holly’s.”

“As in Holly Golightly?” Scully wondered, thinking of the main character of the book.

“That’s what I thought too. I think that must be the place. It opens at 8.30 am and has tables and chairs outside. We’re organizing access to one of the first floor offices across the street now. We’ll have officers in place within the next couple of hours.” Lewis confirmed.

“That’s great news, Dan,” said Scully. “We’ll talk again when one of us has something.”

“Thanks, Dana,” Lewis rang off.

“Did you catch all of that?” Scully asked Mulder after she hung up the phone.

“Yeah, that all sounds good. I’m not having any luck here. Lewis didn’t have anything either?”

“No. Too much to ask that we’d get both clues right away, I guess.”

“Have you seen The Breakfast Club, Scully?” Mulder asked. Scully laughed.

“Probably about 50 times. It was one of my favourite movies. Molly Ringwald was a bit of an idol of mine.”

“The red hair?” Mulder asked. Scully nodded.

Mulder took the case file and threw it onto the floor beside him. He grabbed a pillow from the bed he was lying on and took it with him down to the foot of the bed where he lay flat on his back so that his feet were propped on the headboard.

“Tell me the plot of the movie, Scully. Maybe it will spark something for one of us.”

Scully moved her laptop to the floor and sat up cross-legged, hugging one of the pillows. “It’s been a while since I’ve watched it. There are five kids who all have Saturday detention. You get all the stereotypes: the jock, the rebel, the math geek, the weird girl and the princess. I think they get told they have to write an essay or they have to come back for detention next week. The rebel and the weird girl dick around and get them in trouble from the principal. They end up roaming around the school and talking. I remember Molly Ringwald’s character does a makeover on Allison. Allison and the sporty guy-Emilio Estevez’s character-end up together and so do the princess and the rebel. They realise they all have terrible relationships with their parents. In the end, Brian the geek writes the essay on behalf of them all and it’s signed ‘sincerely, The Breakfast Club’. Scully threw the pillow she had been holding down to the end of her bed and flipped herself around so she was lying down parallel to Mulder. She looked over at him.

“Did that help?” she asked.

“Were you the princess?” Mulder asked.

“Ah, no. I was the weird girl. Initially, at least. I ended up as the geek. Missy was probably closer to the princess, except she was never mean to other girls. Were you the jock?”

“Probably. After Samantha, I was treated like the class weirdo but being good enough at sport to be chosen for the top teams helped once I was in senior school.” Mulder had been looking up at the ceiling as he spoke, then he turned to look at Scully. Her eyes looked wet. Mulder gave her a wink. “Hey, being the weirdo has turned out pretty well for me. I ended up down in the basement with the rebel princess.” Scully made a face at Mulder, but the blush that tinted her cheeks suggested that his compliment had registered.

“Does any of that help us?” she asked after a moment.

“Not sure. It doesn’t seem to be a café or restaurant. Where’s that clue again?”

“You have it,” Scully reminded him. Mulder rolled onto his belly and felt on the floor for the folder. He found it and rolled back to Scully. He found a copy of the text and read it.

“B) Join the Breakfast Club.”

“Ok, how do we join…” Scully interrupted herself. “Detention. They had to report to the school library for detention. The opening scene is all of them arriving.” Both agents sat up, Scully reaching for her phone, Mulder for the phone book.

“Lewis, it’s Scully,” she said. “We think the second clue might reference The Breakfast Club movie. How many high schools do you have in town? Perfect. Can you get someone to watch the movie and see if it suggests any other details that might be useful? And get a team in place at the school. They’ll need to be discrete, there won’t be many people there on a Saturday morning I’d imagine.” Scully rang off and turned back to Mulder. He’d found the local area map in the phone book and was examining the position of Cranmore High.

“It’s a big school, Scully.”

“Yes, it’s the only high school in town.”

“It’s not isolated, but it’s not close to much else either. I’m wondering how easy it would be to convince a victim to head there on a Saturday morning on a dare. That’s assuming he sticks to his usual method and doesn’t just grab someone and take them there.”

“You’re the profiler. Which do you think is more likely?” Scully asked.

“I think he’ll continue with the game. The risk factor contributes to his pleasure. It probably allows him to go for longer periods without killing. And if it goes wrong, he has less chance of being identified if he stays at arm’s length.”

“That makes sense. So what sort of person is going to think it no big deal to go to an empty high school on the weekend?” Scully mused.

“Kids or teachers,” said Mulder. Kids to play ball or hang around and smoke. Teachers to grade papers or supervise detention.”

“Do we think he will wait until the morning to find a victim, or has he already found someone and their instructions tell them to wait until tomorrow?”

“The longer someone has the clue, the more likely they are to tell someone else about it or decide not to go ahead. I think he’ll find his victims in the morning.”

“We need a time,” said Scully. She picked up her phone again. “Dan, can you find out what time the kids in the movie have to report for detention? Thanks.” She turned to Mulder again. “From memory, it’s early, like 7 or 8 am. Where is he going to find enough people before that hour to read his note and have one of them follow the instructions?”

“What sort of people are out of the house that early?” Mulder prompted.  
“Runners. Walkers at the beach, although it’s not getting light quite so early these days. People going out for breakfast.”

“Swimmers,” added Mulder. “Kids who have detention and the teachers who supervise them.”

“A teacher would probably drive straight to the school so their opportunity to find the page would be limited. I think it must be a teenager who will be targeted.” Scully said. “Does the school have a pool?”

Mulder turned back to the area map. “I don’t think it’s actually on school grounds, but there’s a public pool on the same street.” He continued Scully’s train of thought. “A page posted on the pool bulletin board or left in the dressing rooms, or even poolside would get noticed.”

“How does he make sure only one kid goes to the school?” Scully questioned.

“That must not be the next stop! There must be one somewhere else first where he only puts out one copy of the clue. Then it doesn’t matter how many kids follow the first one-it will be a dead end.”

Scully moved over to look at the map with Mulder. “Where else is nearby that a kid would feel safe going alone at that time of day, that wouldn’t already be overrun with other people?”

“Playground?” said Mulder, pointing to an area on the map.

“No, too creepy by yourself in the early morning,” said Scully adamantly. Mulder chuckled.

“Chicken!”

Scully scowled at him and returned to scouring the map. Her phone rang and she answered.

“Great, thanks, Dan. We’re thinking the swimming pool might be where the first clue is dropped. We’re looking for a second site that would work for the next clue-somewhere close and kid-friendly. Public, but not busy at that time. Yes, we’ll let you know if we get there first.” Scully rang off. “7 am. That’s the start time for the detention in the movie.”

“That would work with a swim club. They often have 5 am starts. In a town of this size, parents might drive their kid to the start of the session, but I bet they’re all made to walk home.”

“I think you’re right. And I bet they all go somewhere for breakfast too. Or maybe they hang out at the basketball courts?” Scully suggested.

“Yeah, probably, but that doesn’t help us. We need a place that a single kid would go and wouldn’t meet lots of others. And there’s always the risk that they take a friend with them.”

“I doubt he’d target a teenager with a note that said ‘Come alone’. That would make them suspicious up-front.” Scully pointed out and Mulder agreed. He thought again for a minute.

“I bet he’s been watching them, Scully,” he said. “I bet there’s a kid who usually leaves earlier or arrives later than the others that the suspect is going to target tomorrow! He may even have had a trial run; left out pages before with some reward after one or two stops, so if the kid sees it again tomorrow he or she will be confident it’s legitimate. That’s what I’d do, Scully!”

“And I for one am incredibly grateful that you use your powers for good, Mulder!”

“Haha. So, he’s expecting us at the café or the school. Which one is the right choice?” Mulder asked.

“I’ve been thinking about that,” Scully said. “I think they’re both the right choice. He has no way of knowing which one we’ll pick; the clues don’t preference one or the other so we have no way to objectively decide. I think he’ll send a victim to both venues and hope that we’ll run off to whichever one we don’t select, expecting to find a dead body there. So either way, he’ll be at the venue we choose, either from the start, watching us as we wait for the victim to show up, or he’ll head there as soon as he discovers we’re not at the venue he picks to watch.”

“That makes sense, Scully. And we have a team already in place watching the café. So do we wait at the school, or watch him for him at the pool and follow him?”

“Both, don’t you think? We get Lewis to put people at the pool tonight and then we set an early alarm and head to the school. If he’s watching the school he’ll expect to see us there and assume his plan is working.”   
“Do you want to ring Lewis?” Mulder asked. Scully shook her head.

“Your turn,” she said. She threw the pillow back to the top of the bed and lay down on her side, watching Mulder as he placed the call. While he filled in Lewis on their theory and they agreed on a plan for the morning, he watched Scully’s eyes get heavier and heavier.

Eventually, Mulder walked around to the bed she was lying on and touched her on the shoulder. She startled then rolled to face Mulder, who mouthed, ‘Go to bed!’ He watched as Scully stood and oriented herself, expecting her to gather her clothes and head for the door. Instead, she went into the bathroom, emerging a few minutes later with her hair released from its ponytail and her bra in her hand. She added the bra to her pile of clothes and then headed back to the bed she had been lying on. She moved her laptop to the bedside table, turned down the quilt and slid between the sheets.

Intrigued, Mulder finished his call with Lewis under Scully’s sleepy watch. When he hung up the phone he looked at Scully quizzically.

“He’s watching us. My room is downstairs right on the end and has a big plate-glass window looking out to the parking lot. I’d rather stay here with you. Is that okay?” Mulder nodded his understanding.

“Of course it’s okay, Scully,” he reassured her. He flicked on the lamp beside his bed and then turned off the overhead light.

“Set an alarm,” Scully murmured.

“Yes, ma’am,” Mulder replied as he headed to the bathroom. He was back five minutes later and he dutifully set the alarm for 3.30 am before sliding into his own bed. He flicked off the light and rolled so he was facing Scully. She was already asleep, curled up into a ball, facing him, one arm hugging the pillow to her body. Mulder allowed Scully’s regular breathing to lull him to sleep while he watched her eyelashes flutter against her cheeks and pondered this evolution in their relationship.


	7. Chapter 7

The alarm rang out at 3.30 am and the sleeping pair were both startled from their dreams. Mulder moved first. He shut off the alarm before it disturbed their neighbours. “Stay there, Scully. I’ll go and get ready and then come with you to your room while you dress.” He assumed the grunt that came from the direction of his prone partner was a ‘yes’ and he smiled as he gathered his clothes and entered the bathroom.

When he returned a short time later he was surprised to find Scully up and sitting on a chair, wearing her sweater and shoes and carrying the rest of her belongings. Mulder quickly collected his gun and other items and donned his shoes and coat, then followed Scully down to her room while she made similar preparations. They were in the car by 3.55 am for the short drive to the high school. A quick chat to Lewis assured them that officers were in place at the pool and café. Lewis himself was stationed at a vantage point across the road from the pool where he could see both the entrance to the pool and the school administration area where Mulder and Scully were to be parked.

“The pages are at the pool,” Lewis informed them. “He must have placed them as the pool was closing for the night. They’re in the men’s changing rooms and on the notice board near the men’s lockers. We think there’s a good chance they won’t be noticed until the kids head in to change after their lesson. The squad usually come ready to swim and just leave their gear by the pool until they’re finished training, and the staff do their cleaning at night so don’t bother with the changing area before squad training.”

“Thanks, Lewis. We’d better head over and get situated. Stay in touch,” Mulder said. He and Scully returned to the car and repositioned themselves by the school administration block entrance.

“Well, the pages are here. So now we wait. Don’t suppose you brought me a sandwich?” he looked at Scully from the corner of his eye, a sly smile activating the lines around his eyes.

“It’s with my coffee,” Scully countered. Her eyes were scanning the surrounding area even though they weren’t expecting any action until around 7 am. She had curled herself up on her seat, body tilted towards Mulder. She saw him stretch to the back seat to retrieve his bag.

“You mean this coffee?” he asked casually as he lifted out a thermos and handed it to Scully as a beatific smile graced her features.

“Mulder,” she practically purred. “Where did you get this?”

“I asked Lewis to have someone bring it. This is not my first rodeo, Scully.”

“Thank you,” she said sincerely. Scully poured herself a cup of the steaming coffee and then offered the thermos back to Mulder.

“Scully, first the ice-cream and now your coffee? I’m touched!” Mulder teased her gently as she sat cradling the plastic cup in two hands, breathing in the fragrant steam before taking her first taste. Scully looked at Mulder over the rim of her mug and gave him a cheeky wink. He chuckled, poured himself a coffee and returned to surveying their location. Thanks to the early hour there wasn’t much to see. At 6 am a jogger ran past the car and briefly relieved their boredom. At six-forty they received word that the surveillance team had spotted a young man leave the pool and head to the change rooms. He headed out not long after and instead of turning towards the town proper, he had headed back toward the school and officers were following him carefully.

In the end, the arrest itself was anticlimactic. The team at the café reported a young woman had arrived just prior to 7 am and wandered around for a few minutes before taking a seat at an outdoor table. She held a piece of paper in one hand and was looking about her, presumably for the person who was going to provide her prize. She had been cooling down after her morning run when she found the page by the water fountain in the park. Her first clue had led her to a phone box on the corner of the avenue and the second instructed her to sit at the café until her prize arrived. She had assumed it was a contest organized by the local radio station.

At the school, by the time the young man with wet hair and a swimming bag thrown over one shoulder appeared, the killer had already been arrested. He had been waiting in the shadows at the second location; the school playground. Apparently, teenage boys did not find empty playgrounds at dawn quite as creepy as Scully did. The surveillance team had waited until the boy had found the second clue at the top of the slide and was on his way to Scully and Mulder. The officers had approached the suspect just as he stepped out of the shadows and prepared to follow the boy. He held a handgun that later proved to be a replica. The knife in his backpack, however, was very real and would later provide evidence that linked him to one of the four murders. It seemed he had not planned to confront Scully and Mulder at this scene. In his bag, the detectives found sets of pages for two further treasure hunts. By the look of the clues, the next two curious participants would not have been so fortunate-both sets of clues ended in isolated locations and a final page that was to have been left for Mulder and Scully to find suggested that these victims would not have been left in any condition to provide evidence about the killer.

\--

“So, do you have my prize, or what? Last time it was record store voucher!” the boy asked, still confused as to why a pair of FBI agents had bustled him into the back seat of their vehicle.

Mulder laughed. “Let’s get you out of here and we’ll tell you just how lucky you’ve been once your folks come to collect you.” He smiled over at Scully. Although they had both been confident that their instincts about this case were correct, they were still relieved that no one had been hurt during their surveillance and the subsequent arrest.

The teen was reunited with his parents at the police station, and Lewis’ team led them away to break the news of his lucky escape. The local police would work on building the case against the killer and their media unit would devise a public safety campaign to encourage the local community to take a bit more care around believing everything that they read!

Mulder and Scully parted with Detective Lewis on cordial terms, thanking him for being open to their investigative methods and for his co-ordination of the teams that had caught the man responsible for four deaths. It was not always, or even very often, that local enforcement agencies welcomed the help of the FBI, and Mulder’s sometimes unorthodox approach was even less popular than most.


	8. Epilogue

It was mid-afternoon before Mulder and Scully returned to their motel. They headed to their separate rooms to freshen up and then met back in the parking lot to find somewhere for a late lunch. A flight back to DC had been booked for them late that evening and they’d delayed checking-out of their motel until it was time to leave for the airport. Although both had been on a high from the successful arrest of the killer, Scully was starting to fade as they finished lunch. She kept more regular sleeping habits than Mulder, who had actually had a better night’s sleep than normal. He watched her usually bright eyes grow heavy as their conversation started to lag. Rather than suggest coffee to end their meal, Mulder called for the check and accompanied Scully back to their car. He drove them back to the motel and parked outside Scully’s room.

“You need a nap, Scully.” She nodded tiredly.

“Will you be using your room, or are we having another sleepover?” Mulder asked.

Scully poked her tongue out at Mulder and trudged towards her door. “I’ll see you for dinner,” she called over her shoulder as she was about to disappear into her room.

“I’ll wake you at 5,” confirmed Mulder. “I think I’ll go for a run. Then I might give Skinner a call and tell him about our new sleeping arrangements. He’s been at us for a while to reduce our expenses…” Scully’s door shut firmly over Mulder’s last few shouted words. He laughed to himself as he jogged up the stairs to his room to change into his running gear. He and Scully had been dancing around this thing between them for a while now. He knew she wasn’t going to start sharing a room with him any time soon, but Mulder was a patient man. He would wait.


End file.
